The Goal: Language Awareness
Issues of correctness cannot be ignored, and students must be expected to polish drafts of their writing using conventions of Standard English. In their discussion of African American Vernacular, Wheeler and Swords present the “Code-Switching Shopping List” that asks students to examine their writing by searching for the top ten “informal English patterns’ and to “code-switch to formal English” . Similar to a traditional writing checklist used for purposes of editing, students account for the errors of Standard English and keep records of their work. Adapting this Links Of London Necklaces activity for text speaks requires that teachers engage their students in discussion of the conventions of digital writing. These conventions may include abbreviations, phonetic spellings, and nonstandard capitalization and punctuation, to name a few. Working together, students and teachers can create a writing checklist that focuses solely on text speak, and students can work individually or in writing groups to edit papers. (See Figure 1for a sample checklist.) If students have been asked to consider language throughout the year and have practiced translating from text speak to Standard English, they should be able to easily find these “miscues” (Goodman, qtd. in Jacobs 209) that have entered their formal writing.
The goal of these activities is to “develop met cognitive awareness of how [students] switch language and literacy practices according to context” (Jacobs 208). However, authors Teresa M. Red and Karen Schuster Webb point out that critic of code-switching practices argue that students are asked only to translate from their primary discourse into the discourse of school and not the other way around. In other words, code-switching is typically “one way,” and informal language is still seen as a “deficiency”. To truly privilege the language of digital natives, teachers might ask for reverse translation. In other words, students can rewrite plays or other pieces of literature using text speak. The process of translating Shakespeare, for example, into an IM conversation would make students think critically about language, even as it would allow them to access traditionally difficult texts using their primary discourse of text speak. Their writing would aid in comprehension, and their language may highlight the lasting relevance of Shakespeare’s themes.
Parents and teachers may still question the suitability of text speak in academic settings. Many may argue that aside from its use as authentic dialogue and as a type of shorthand note taking, its appropriateness in school is limited. However, as I personally learned when many of my friends and colleagues commented on my refusal to adapt my digital language as I navigated the new (to me) communication tools of texting and IM, Standard English is not always the acceptable language in the digital world. In fact, using “correct” grammar, spelling, and punctuation set me apart from the community in an uncomfortable way. Text speak allows me to enter this venue and to assimilate effectively. If teachers and parents can ac-knowledge that text speak is indeed appropriate in the digital world that students navigate daily, then Links Of London Charms perhaps we can see its use in school as a difference, rather than a deficit, and teach students how to code-switch from this language that has become part of their primary discourse into the more formal language of school and the larger society.
We continued our chat, determining that while “digital dinosaur” sounded “fun,” both of us had too much digital knowledge to fit that cate-gory. We signed off with promises to hitch our wagons and continue in the pioneer generation.
As I looked back at our conversation, captured conveniently on my computer screen, I noted the lack of capitals and end punctuation, and I flipped to this article, realizing that I myself have developed the ability to code-switch effortlessly between the text speak I use online and the Standard English I use in my academic life. Perhaps this digital immigrant can begin to identify with the digital natives who enter her classroom. And perhaps privileging the language that represents their world outside of school will make teachers like me pioneers in the next generation,
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